Margate Planners Mapping Business District

MARGATE -- Plans to form a new business district here are nearly complete and should be ready for review by the City Commission later this summer, City Planner Walter Fufidio said.

``It`s a trend in zoning and is still a recent development,`` Fufidio said. ``The present zoning is just a numbers game. This would be a whole new direction in zoning for Margate.``

The new business district is modeled after similar ones in Plantation, Coconut Creek and Boca Raton, and will help prevent deterioration of commercial properties along State Road 7, Fufidio said.

The new business zone would not allow any large commercial property to be developed on sites less than six acres.

Businesses such as doughnut and pet shops, auto part stores and real estate offices would be permitted.

Bars, nightclubs and automobile sales lots are a few of the businesses that would be allowed only after a special permit is approved by the City Commission.

Businesses in the zone would have to preserve as many trees as possible during construction and would have to comply with the city`s landscaping codes.

``Before, when trees were five feet in the way, the developer would just bulldoze them down. This way the city can say, `move the building five feet.```

The new zone also would limit the number of driveways a business can have.

It also would require that buildings be architecturally compatible with established businesses in the area.

The city currently has three business zones. Fufidio said the new fourth zone would allow many of the same businesses permitted in those other zones, but would establish tougher construction and operational guidelines.

Fufidio, who has worked on creating the new business zone for six months, said city officials also would examine the effects any proposed commercial projects in the new district would have on surrounding property values and on the living and working conditions of the community.

The new zone will cover the commercial area near State Road 7 and Sample Road, and will include the Peppertree and Margate plazas and the Swap Shop.

The creation of the zone, if approved by the City Commission, would mean a slight revision of the city`s comprehensive land-use plan.

``I think it would further the comprehensive land-use plan because the plan talks about adopting high standards in urban development,`` Fufidio said. ``This will expedite it.``